Egypt expects a 32 percent rise in the flow of foreign direct investments during 2007, Minister of Investment, Mahmoud Mohei-Eddin said on Sunday. The Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted Mohei-Eddin prior to a tour in the UK and the US as saying that Egypt offered many incentives for investors.

"This has led to a remarkable rise in foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country over the past years," the Minister said, pointing to a rise also to indirect investments coming into the country and raising foreign reserves to US$ 26 billion by the end of 2006, from US$ 14 billion two years before.

Mohei-Eddin attributed the increase in Egypt's foreign reserves to the flow of foreign investments into the country which "had a positive impact on the stability of the exchange market as well as enhancing confidence in the investment climate."

Egypt's Minister of Trade and Industry, Rashid Mohammed Rashid has recently emphasized the importance of his country's relations with the US which he termed as "strategic", noting that US investments in Egypt had hit US$ 16 billion in 2006 and were expected to rise to US$ 17 billion this year. The US is Egypt's second biggest trade partner after the European Union.